Alcoa courts data center industry as it puts closed, curtailed sites up for sale

The move is part of a target to generate $500 million to $1 billion from select asset sales.

Oplinger said the first sale is expected during the first half of the year that will be repurposed into a data center. Two more sites could “quickly follow after that.”

The plan was always to sell the assets, he said.

“What has changed over the last couple of years is the advent of AI and the data centers,” Oplinger said. “What we’re really trying to understand is the value in a data center world or an AI world of our individual sites.”

AI usage has ramped up demand for electricity, with aluminum companies vying for competitively priced power.

In February, Century Aluminum sold its idled Hawesville, Ky., smelter. The facility is expected to be redeveloped by TeraWulf into a digital infrastructure campus supporting high-performance computing and artificial intelligence. Century will retain a non-controlling minority equity stake in the project.

Hawesville was idled in 2022 as electricity prices skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the time, Century said the curtailment would last 9-12 months until energy prices returned to normal levels. But that didn’t happen.

Century is planning to restart idled capacity at its Mt. Holly smelter in South Carolina, driven by the extension of a long-term power agreement with Santee Cooper through 2031.

Affordable energy was a major factor in the full closure or idling of more than 30 smelters in the past 45 years.